March 2021: Salt & Brine is no longer at Time Out Market Miami and has since closed.
When it comes to oysters, we’ve all heard the whole aphrodisiac thing. But the oyster is capable of way more than that. They’re friendly filter feeders who help keep their habitats stay clean and stable, and perhaps most pertinent to our food-obsessed lot: they’re delicious.
While this humble, hardworking mollusk is peddled by the dozen at happy hours across the land, their habitat—like countless other critters in the ocean—is at the mercy of pollution, overharvesting and climate change. Less than 25 percent of oyster habitats remain in the world.
So it’s a relief to know there are nice people out there doing their part to give back to the beloved oyster—and you can help them do it. Salt & Brine, the new raw bar and seafood spot at Time Out Market Miami, has teamed up with Sea Grant at the University of Florida to recycle their discarded shells rather than chuck them in the trash.
About a year ago, Salt & Brine’s Christian Plotczyk, who previously co-owned Ella’s Oyster Bar on Calle Ocho, began donating their used shells to Sea Grant’s pilot program with the aim of rebuilding oyster reefs around the Gulf of Mexico and all the way up to Virginia.
“We tried it out, they brought me some buckets and we filled up every bucket they gave me over the weekend,” says Christian. “We didn’t expect that.”
One year and around 1,000 pounds of Ella’s shells later, the Sea Grant program is going strong, and the Plotczyk team is more passionate than ever about the cause.
“As I learned more of the process and program, it’s something I really wanted to stand behind,” Christian says.
To take some strain off the tightly-funded university program, Christian and his wife and business partner Domenica even volunteered to transport the buckets of discarded shells to their home each day and store them until Sea Grant can come to pick them up. (Hopefully, they’ve cleared out some space: Christian anticipates Salt & Brine will match Ella’s entire first year of shells in a single month.)
Restoring oyster reefs to their historical prominence in coastal bays and estuaries is considered essential to the recovery of our coastal ecosystems. Next time you’re enjoying a freshly shucked oyster at Salt & Brine, you can slurp a bit easier knowing you’re doing your small bit to help.
“The restaurant industry takes so much away,” Christian says. “This is an opportunity for us to give something back.”
